isakson supported government coverage of end of life counseling? perhaps from isakson's interview the day before in which he said, quote, sarah palin's website had talked about the house bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanized, how someone could take an end of life directive or living will as that is nuts. or from senate bill 466 from 2007. to provide for coverage of an end of life planning consultation, cosponsor johnny isakson. like mr. grassley he at least acknowledges the death panels are bogus and today an actual alaska republican who is serving in office went further. joining mr. obama in calling the death panel lie a lie. a lie now owned by mr. grassley as well. built up fear. >> it does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there is an end of life provision, these death panels.estly i'm so offended at that terminology because there absolutely isn't. there is no reason to build up fear in the american public by saying things that are not included in the bill. >> presumably tomorrow senator murkowski will

>> two books i have recently finished work walter isakson's biography of benjamin franklin and taylor branch phos biography on king. i really enjoyed reading those. the two books i want to read this summer, have to find time his team of rivals, the book about the cabinet and the sociologists at harvard. so come and visit to books at wunsch weafer myself. i have two young children at home. we are on the fifth harry potter book read downed by the end of the summer we may be through that whole series. >> to see more summer reading lists and other program information visit our web site at booktv.org. >> next, booktv brings to selected programs from the 2009 virginia festival of the book in charlottesville. first, michael dirda, pulitzer prize-winning book critic for "the washington post" discusses his book, classics for pleasure. this program is 17 minutes. >> michael dirda, a longtime critic at "the washington post" and author of the book classes for pleasure, how do you find-- the fine classic? >> classic is a book that people keep going back to generation after generation. it doesn't h

and isakson i believe is the one who put it in the senate bill. his republican colleague from georgia. so chuck's wrong about that. i'm sure at the probably said it in a way that he didn't mean to. i don't want to say that he purposely is misleading folks but it just is not true. we would never do that. it's wrong morley. it's not american and by the way, it's not even smart politically. >> senator, this was going to be a tough sell in the politics of missouri, even with a decorous audience to your town hall meetings. how are you going to get through the rest of the month trying to sell this in your state especially since there isn't a particular senate bill you can say you are in favor of at this point? >> well, i think most missourians know we need health insurance reform. we need consumer protection. it is wrong that somebody can get very ill and an insurance company can pull the rug out from under them. as long as we focus on what is going to be in it for most missourians, which is insurance reform and hopefully taking a whack at a deficit out

isakson is in favor of some kind of discussion about end of life issues but the president got it wrong about what he did and did not do. shepard: it would be the ultimate pay-as-you-go system if every single penny that we earned when towards paying off the government at the state, local, and federal level. we would have broken even today according to a taxpayer advocacy group. they declared today to be the cost of government day and it came about a month later from last year. today is august 12th. the rate of government spending has gone up faster than our national income. a reassuring outlook from the federal reserve, the central bank indicating that the recession appears to be ending, leveling off, as it left interest rates at record lows. that helped to cheer investors who have made huge gains. stocks rallied and by the closing bell, the dow was up 120 points. manufacturers say they have a car that can handle long trips without a drop of gasoline. the lead story on a trip across america. colorado, managers at this automotive companies say they plan to put an electric car on the mark

. >> isakson from georgia wrote the provision that went into the panel and so the patient and family are in charge. it has nothing to do with the government having any control. it's the opposite. it's about the government reimbursing doctors for taking the time to explain the different procedures, to help with any kind of directive. not to take over. so it's so ironic that senator grassley has got that part confused because his fellow republicans from georgia who put it in the bill on the senate side. >> do you think he's confused or is something else at work here? >> you know, listen. i think that there are many provisions of this bill and i think everyone needs to slow down and take time to study it carefully. because if you do, so much of the misinformation goes away. and this is a big, ji jent piece of information. >> i assume it's fair to say you've never seen this kind of information what you call rudeness or anger in a public forum like this. i want to read you what paul wrote. he said that what some are reacting to is more about president obama than what is really in these va

but let's stop mischaracterizing. >> let me quote to you from senator isakson, today's "washington postin an interview. how someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts. you're putting the authority in the individual, rather than the government. i don't know how that got so mixed up. now, he put out a statement after the president referred to him, saying he hates what the democrats are doing in the house of representatives, but at the same time, he does and has been on record for years supporting cown semiselling for the elderly. >> correct. we go back to the politics. i don't object to that provision. it's just that, in the big sweep of things, we don't want the government in our bedroom, but we want them at our death bed? it's just bad political tactita. nobody's read -- >> i'm reading this bill. it's a long time. but the republicans that have 55 days to introduce a bill -- >> that version in the house, it's going to be very different. the senate's got a lot of different ideas. that version in the house is never going to be the law of the land. it will

the republican senator from alaska, johnny isakson, the republican senator from georgia's credit, tookit on and said this is outrageous and indefensible. it does cheen the debate. it does scare people at a time when people are afraid. it spreads indefensible fear0u d baseless fear. >> lehrer: your point is there's enough to be afraid about-- >> without this kind of stuff. first, there is no death panel in the bill, full stop. that is for sure. but if we're going to get serious about cost control, we are going to have to have serious discussion about the amount of care and expense of care we give at the end of life. that's just a fact. so if you want to call it a "death panel," call it that. but it's about having serious discussions about care at the end of life. and we're going have to have have those discussions. in some weird way, i'm pro-death panel. i want to have those discussions, whether it's one on one or just as a society. and this is a fundamental problem i think with this whole process. we have to have serious discussions about who's going to lose in all this because we've g

isakson has a completely different interpretation. >> let's take what i talked about on the back of the plane. let me just read the question, a series of questions and answers. how did this become a question of euthanasia? "i have no idea. i just had a phone call where someone said sarah palin's website talked about the house bill having death panels on it where someone would be euthanize. how someone could take a directive as that is nuts. you are putting authority in the hands of the government. i do not know how that got mixed up." "you are saying this is not a question of government. it is for individuals." "it empowers you to make decisions at a difficult time rather than have the government make them for you." >> i believe those are answers in response to his amendment in the health bill, not the longer and more defined involvement of these end of life panels in the house bill. >> i would ask those people to interpret. i just had a phone call with someone said sarah palin's web site had talked about the house bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanize. how some

this bill originally was a republi n republicrepublican then house member, now senator, named johnny isakson from georgia who very sensibly thought this was something that would expand people's options. and somehow it's gotten spun into this idea of death panels. i am not in favor of that. so, just -- i want to -- i want to -- i want to clear the air here. now, in fairness, the underlying argument i think has to be addressed, and that is, people's concern that if we are reforming the health care system to make it more efficient -- which i think we have to do -- the concern is that somehow that will mean rationing of care. all right? that somehow, some government bureaucrat out there will be saying, well, you can't have this test or you can't have this procedure because some bean counter decides that this is not a good way to use our health care dollars. and this is a legitimate concern, so i just want to address this. we do think that systems like medicare are very inefficient right now, but it has nothing to do at the moment wish issues of benefits. the inefficiencies all come from things l

appreciate the dedicated efforts of senator feingold chairman of the africa subcommittee and senator isaksong member of that committee. i just returned as you noted from sudan last week and as a visited darfur, abiye in the south i was reminded again of the great humanitarian tragedies that have occurred in that country for the many people in sudan have suffered terribly from the pain and loss that conflict brings zilaitis for these people, for future generations of sudanese that we are striving to make a difference. let me tell you what we want to achieve. we won a country that is governed responsively, just undemocratically, a country that is at peace with itself and its neighbors that is economically viable, the work together with united states in common interest. we want an inclusive, and durable peace in darfur. we want full implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement. we bonn appeasable's referendum, whether single and united or a sudan that divides feasibly and hortatively into two separate states. p1 only what is best for the sudanese people. that is our vision and to make it

appreciate the dedicated efforts of senator feingold chairman of the africa subcommittee and senator isakson, the ranking member of that committee. i just returned as you noted from sudan last week and as a visited darfur, abiye in the south i was reminded again of the great humanitarian tragedies that have occurred in that country for the many people in sudan have suffered terribly from the pain and loss that conflict brings zilaitis for these people, for future generations of sudanese that we are striving to make a difference. let me tell you what we want to achieve. we won a country that is governed responsively, just undemocratically, a country that is at peace with itself and its neighbors that is economically viable, the work together with united states in common interest. we want an inclusive, and durable peace in darfur. we want full implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement. we bonn appeasable's referendum, whether single and united or a sudan that divides feasibly and hortatively into two separate states. p1 only what is best for the sudanese people. that is our vision an